Grateful Dead’s company Ice Nine signs global publishing deal with Warner Chappell

Warner Chappell Music has entered into a global publishing agreement with the Grateful Dead’s company, Ice Nine.

The administration deal covers the iconic group’s entire body of work, including nearly 200 original compositions, and spanning three decades of studio, live, and archival songs.

Born out of San Francisco’s counterculture movement in the mid-‘60s, the Grateful Dead fused musical traditions and genres – blues, folk, R&B, country, jazz, rock – with a groundbreaking psychedelic-inspired, improvisational approach.

Originally signed to Warner Bros. Records at the close of 1966, over the next 28 years they released 13 studio albums, 10 live albums, and an unprecedented series of more than 130 archival releases culled from their record-breaking 2,318 performances.

Alongside their virtuosic musicianship, the Grateful Dead were gifted composers and arrangers, most frequently in collaboration with their primary lyricist, Robert Hunter, who passed away last September.

Of the band’s 170 compositions, 61 were penned by the duo of Hunter and the late Jerry Garcia, among them classics such as Casey Jones, Truckin’ (written with the Dead’s Bob Weir and Phil Lesh), Uncle John’s Band, Touch of Grey, Friend of the Devil, Dark Star, China Cat Sunflower, and many more.

Garcia and Hunter were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.


Having mastered and advanced the art of live performance, the Grateful Dead fostered a uniquely collaborative relationship with their enormous and dedicated global following, the Dead Heads, while also selling over 35 million albums worldwide.

In 1994, the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2007, they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for their contributions to American music.

In 2011, the band’s May 8, 1977 performance at Cornell University was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.

“It’s a rare privilege and sacred trust for all of us at Warner Chappell to represent the Dead catalog and to continue to bring their music to their extraordinary fanbase while introducing them to whole new generations of followers.”

Guy Moot & Carianne Marshall

“The legacy of the Grateful Dead is unparalleled in the history of American music and culture,” said Warner Chappell Music Co-Chair & CEO Guy Moot and Co-Chair & COO Carianne Marshall.

“Their songs, which began as revolutionary touchstones for a generation of music fans, have now entered the modern musical canon of timeless classics.

“At the same time, their pioneering musicianship set a new standard in musical creativity and improvisation, opening doors to new sounds and experiences.

“It’s a rare privilege and sacred trust for all of us at Warner Chappell to represent the Dead catalog and to continue to bring their music to their extraordinary fanbase while introducing them to whole new generations of followers.”Music Business Worldwide

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